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† THE GLASS FACTORY. †
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.^-††$£¶## SEVERAL CENTURIES AFTER IT HAD LAST ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# BELONGED TO US, WE WENT ON AN OUTING TO #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THE GLASS FACTORY THAT BORE OUR FAMILY ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# NAME. IT HAD CHANGED OWNERS MANY TIMES #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## SINCE OUR ANCESTORS DEATH, AND THEN ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# STOOD ABANDONED FOR A LONG WHILE. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ FINALLY, THE NATURAL END STATION FOR ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# THE BUILDINGS THAT SURVIVE: A MUSEUM, #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## AND A GIFT SHOP. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THERE'S A LONG TIME SINCE MY FAMILY ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# MADE ANYTHING. BY MANY, WE WOULD BE #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## CONSIDERED POOR. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THERE ARE TWO MAIN FACTORY BUILDINGS, ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# DOMED THINGS OF SEVERAL FLOORS, MADE IN #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## YELLOW BRICK. LARGE BUT NARROW WINDOWS, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# REMINESCENT OF SOME CATHEDRAL. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ CUSTOM-MADE GLASS, OF COURSE, LARGE AND ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# LEADED, AND ASHEN. A BIT TOO DARK TO BE #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## PRACTICAL. ON THE EASTERN BUILDING, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# SOME ARE SHATTERED. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# THE OTHER ONE IS PUBLICLY OPEN. THERE'S #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## A MUSEUM, WITH WAX FIGURES OF MY GREAT ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# GREAT GREAT GRANDFATHER, OR SOMETHING. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ VARIOUS TOOLS (OR REPLICAS) LAID OUT ON ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# TABLES, WITH EXPLAINING TEXTS. A LOT OF #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## GLASS OF VARYING THICKNESS. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ †† ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# †† †† #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## ------- † † ------- ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# †† †† #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ †† ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## I QUICKLY SNEAK OUT, AND CLIMB INTO THE ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# OTHER BUILDING. THE CONTRAST IS #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ OVERWHELMING. IT MUST HAVE STOOD ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# DERELICT FOR A LONG TIME, WINDOWS #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## BROKEN, METALLIC TRASH AND POOLS OF ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# DARK GLASS ALL OVER THE FLOOR. NO #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ELECTRIC LIGHTS, BUT I CAN SEE BY THE ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# LIGHT THAT SHINES IN WHEREVER THE DARK #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## WINDOWS ARE MISSING A PANE. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ HOWEVER, THE GREATEST DIFFERENCE IS THE ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# HIGHER FLOORS: THIS BUILDING HAS NONE. #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## IT IS ONE MASSIVE HALL, STRETCHING AWAY ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# INFINITELY ABOVE ME. SOMEWHERE UP THERE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ IS SOME GREAT IRON LATTICEWORK, FROM ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# WHERE CHAINS ARE SUSPENDED, AND PARTS #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## OF MACHINERY HAS BEEN FALLING DOWN. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THERE IS, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GREAT ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# HALL, A THIN SPIRAL STAIRCASE THAT #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## LEADS UP THERE. I SNEAK OVER THERE, AND ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# TAKE A FEW RELUCTANT STEPS. AFTER JUST #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ A REVOLUTION, I NOTICE THAT FOR EACH ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# STEP THE BUILDING STARTS TO GLOW, THE #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## BRICKS TURNING A DARK RED, AND THEN ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# ORANGE, ALL THE PILED UP DEBREE BEING #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ LIT FROM BEHIND. ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## I STOP READY TO RUN DOWN AND OUT, BUT ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# THERE'S SOMEONE ELSE ON THE STAIRCASE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ WITH ME NOW, PRESSED CLOSE. HE'S ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# LOOKING LIKE ME, SHORT HAIR AND THIN #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## ARMS, BUT WITH EARS FROM SOME ANIMAL, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# AND MORE DISTURBINGLY, COMPLETELY MADE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ OF DARK LIQUID GLASS. ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## †† ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# †† †† #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ------- † † ------- ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# †† †† #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## †† ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ MY FEAR HOLDS ME IN PLACE WHILE HE ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# STARTS OPERATING LEVERS AND DIALS SET #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## IN THE CENTER OF THE STAIRCASE. SLOWLY, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# IT STARTS SPINNING, CIRCLING UPWARDS. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ IT'S AN ELEVATOR! I START TO RUN ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# DOWNWARDS, BUT NOW THE LIQUID BOY #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## CREATURE GRABS HOLD OF ME. I TRY TO ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# SHAKE HIM OFF, BUT HE'S TOO STRONG, AND #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ PULLS ME BACK UP BESIDE HIM. ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## THIS TIME, I TURN ANGRY INSTEAD. WHAT ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# THE HELL? WHO IS THIS GUY, ACTING LIKE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THIS? I REACH OUT MY FREE ARM AND SLAM ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# A RANDOM LEVER. SOME METAL BAR IS #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## SUDDENLY RELEASED BETWEEN US, HITTING ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# HIM ON THE ARM, FORCING MY RELEASE. I #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ SHOVE HIM OFF OF ME, AND HE FALLS INTO ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# THE LEVERS, MESSING THEM UP. #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## IMMEDIATELY, A THIN RUSTY CHAINMAIL ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# CURTAIN IS DROPPED AROUND ME. BUT THE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ELEVATOR ALSO SPEEDS UP SIGNIFICANTLY. ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## THE WALLS ARE FLARING NOW, YELLOW, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# WHITE, ALMOST BLUE. I CLOSE MY EYES AND #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ CURL INTO A BALL. BUT THEN, THE GLASS ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# BOY SCREAMS, A PIERCING SOUND THAT #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## FORCES MY EYES BACK OPEN. I WATCH AS HE ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# BECOMES TOO LIQUID, HIS BODY POOLING #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ DOWN IN HIS NOW MASSIVE TAIL, AND THE ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# TIP OF IT SUDDENLY BREAKS OF IN A GLASS #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## DROP THAT FALLS TOWARD THE FACTORY ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# FLOOR. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# HE'S CRAWLING ON THE STAIRS, UNABLE TO #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## KEEP HIS BODY UPRIGHT. CAN'T REACH THE ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# LEVERS, CLAWS AT MY CHAINMAIL CAGE, #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ WHILE HIS BODY IS TURNING INTO DARK ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# PEARLS. FINALLY, HE'S LOST TOO MUCH OF #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## HIMSELF AND THE SCREAM IS CUT SHORT. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# THE LAST OF HIM RAINS DOWN. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# I STILL CAN'T REACH THE LEVERS FROM #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## WITHIN MY CAGE. LOOKING UP, I TRY TO ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# MAKE OUT THE CEILING, BUT IT'S ALL A #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ WHIRLING SEA OF COLOURS. BELOW ME GLOWS ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# THE HELLFIRE OF THE FACTORY WALLS, BUT #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## VERY FAINT. I SIT DOWN, CURL BACK UP, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# BECOME STILL. #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# †† #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## †† †† ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# ------- † † ------- #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ †† †† ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# †† #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# A LARGE CLUNK SHAKES MY ENTIRE BODY, #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ AND SNAPS ME BACK INTO REALITY. I'M ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# BACK AT THE FACTORY FLOOR, BUT THE #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## STAIRS ARE STILL MOVING SLIGHTLY, ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# CLICKING IN PLACE, CARRYING ME THE LAST #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ FEW CENTIMETERS. I CAME FROM BELOW, ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# SOMEHOW. THE CHAINMAIL IS RETRACTED, #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## AND I SLOWLY DISMOUNT THE STAIRS. ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ SHAKING AND CRYING, I MAKE MY WAY OVER ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# THE FACTORY FLOOR, WADING THROUGH DARK #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## GLASS MARBLES. A QUICK GLANCE DOWN, AND ##¶£$††-^.
..^-††$£¶# I SEE THERE'S SOMETHING FAINT INSIDE #¶£$††-^..
...^-††$£¶ THEM. EMBRYOS? ARE THESE EGGS? ¶£$††-^...
..^-††$£¶# #¶£$††-^..
.^-††$£¶## I SHUDDER, AND CLIMB BACK OUT. ##¶£$††-^.
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